REPEAL OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA'S FAIRNESS
CLAUSE: The
PRSA(SA) has advised that the obviously unimplementable
Clause 83(i) inserted in South Australia's Constitution
Act 1934 by a 76% YES vote at a referendum on
1991-02-09, which read, "In making an electoral
redistribution the Commission must ensure, as far as
practicable, the electoral redistribution is fair to prospective
candidates and groups of candidates so that, if
candidates of a particular group attract more
than 50 per cent of the popular vote
(determined by aggregating votes cast throughout
the State and allocating preferences to the
necessary extent), they will be elected in
sufficient numbers to enable a government to be
formed." has fortunately been included in a
bill to repeal
it passed by South Australia's Parliament this
month.

The PRSA(SA)
was the sole campaigner against the Clause in 1991, calling it 'constitutional
window-dressing', and was pleased that the
cross-bench MLCs gave the necessary
support for the repeal.

3RD REFERENDUM ON BRITISH COLUMBIA
ELECTORAL SYSTEM: The new British Columbia
Government of the New Democratic Party backed by the
Greens Party has introduced legislation
for a referendum in 2018 that will give voters a
choice between PR systems and the existing plurality
system.

Unlike BC's 2005
and 2009
referendums on this subject, the outcome will be
binding if it receives the vote of an absolute
majority of voters. At Prince Edward Island's second advisory
poll, in 2016, with 36% turnout, PR-STV was not an
option, and MMP
won, but it will not take effect until confirmed
at a new poll.

BRITISH MPs DEBATE PROPORTIONAL
REPRESENTATION: See
and hear some members of the House of
Commons - all of whom are elected by a
single-member electorate system - respond in
debate about a petition of over 100,000
signatures that seeks some type of PR system for
UK general elections.

CONDOLENCES FROM JSCEM:The PRSA National Treasurer, Julie
McCarron-Benson, notified the Federal Parliament's
Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters of the
death of the PRSA National President, Bogey Musidlak,
and received a letter
of condolence from its Chair, Senator Linda
Reynolds.

A.C.T. ASSEMBLY SPEECHES ON BOGEY
MUSIDLAK: The A.C.T. Legislative Assembly's
adjournment debate
on 19 September began with members reflecting on
the life of the late Bogey Musidlak, and his major
contribution to the A.C.T. Assembly benefiting from an
entrenched Hare-Clark electoral system.

DEATH
OF PRSA NATIONAL PRESIDENT: The PRSA reports
the sad news of the untimely death, at only 63, of
Bogey Musidlak, who had been theNational President of
the PRSAfor
over 23 years since he first gained that position in
1994.

Bogey’s funeraltook
place on Friday, 08 September 2017, and he was buried
at the Woden Cemetery in Phillip, ACT.Online tributesinclude
those from Bogey’s sister, Clarissa; members of the
family of the late Senator David Vigor, for whom Bogey
worked; and various PRSA members. Malcolm Mackerras AO
provided an
obituary toThe
Canberra Times under the title of
'Father of the ACT's Hare-Clark
electoral system'.A tributeunder
Bogey’s full name of Boguslaw Czeslaw Musidlak appears
inThe
Adelaide Advertiser,as Bogey
had family links to Adelaide, where he was born.

in 1992 to win Hare-Clark at an advisory poll, and
repel a Government move toimpose a
Group Voting Ticket optionon it
that was not disclosed until after the advisory poll
was won, which is a major reason why politicians
prefer advisory polls to binding referendums;
and

in 1995 to entrench Hare-Clark in a binding
referendum.

THE
NEW PRSA NATIONAL PRESIDENT: The Returning
Officer at the most recent election of PRSA National
officers, Deane Crabb, has duly declared, under Section 16of the
PRSA Constitution, that Dr Jeremy Lawrence, who is the
current Vice-President of the PRSA’s Victoria-Tasmania
Branch, was elected as the PRSA National President for
the remainder of Bogey’s 2016-17 term, as Jeremy was
the only other candidate at that election.

ANTONY GREEN AO: With this year's Queen's
Birthday Honours List, the PRSA can congratulate Antony
Green on having joined
Australia's other leading psephologist, Malcolm
Mackerras AO, in becoming an Officer of the Order of
Australia. Each has made - in different ways -
distinguished contributions to public awareness of
electoral systems in Australia. Each has been the Guest Speaker at an annual
general meeting of the PRSA's Victoria-Tasmania
Branch, in 2011 and 2009 respectively.

The ruling
of the High Court, sitting as the Court of Disputed
Returns, was that the method of filling the Senate
position for South Australia that Robert John Day AO
was declared not to have been validly elected to is
stated in the answer to Question (b).

That answer states that the vacancy
should be filled by applying the provisions ofs
273(27)of
the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (Cth) by
analogy by filling the vacancy by a special count of
the ballot papers. That recount would
be a total recount, not a Tasmanian-style countback.

MELBOURNE CITY COUNCIL ELECTION
IRREGULARITY RESOLVED AT VCAT:The
Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has ordered
that two councillors that the Victorian Electoral
Commission declared to be elected
at the MCC general election in 2016 be declared not to
have been elected, and that one candidate then is now
declared elected.

MOVES TO REFORM WA UPPER HOUSE
ELECTORAL SYSTEM: Moves
by Labor and the Greens seem similar to 2016 Senate reforms
supported by the PRSA.
They do, in addition, include a correction of the
Legislative Council's pronounced malapportionment
of its electoral districts. The WA system would
still retain its undesirable imposition like the
Senate's above-the-line, party-empowering -
as opposed to voter-empowering - contrivance, but
WA's present Weighted
Inclusive Gregory Transfer is much superior
to the Senate's Unweighted version, as is WA's
method of filling casual
vacancies, although the Tasmanian and ACT
countback system is better still.